The present application relates to an assembly comprising a vertical guide, one or more supporting arms movable within the vertical guide and means by which a supporting arm can be secured in the vertical guide.
UK-A-2 082 893 discloses a vertical guide in which a supporting arm having a dovetail guiding element fits. The dovetail element has a straight elongation extending into a recess in the supporting arm and car be pulled further into the supporting arm by a set screw. By this the arm is clamped, which, however does not give an actual guaranteed clamping.
PCT application WO 92/09221 discloses a supporting arm in which a small flexible plastic block is mounted which can be pulled back by a screw in such a way that an expanding portion of it will contact the vertical guide. With this solution too, there is no secure clamping. In these known systems, the supporting arms are continuously adjustable, which leads to the important disadvantage, that movement after clamping is not exactly unreal.
Further, there are the known systems in which supporting arms provided with hook members can be suspended into vertical profile elements, to which end spaced slots or keyhole-shaped holes for the hook members have been made in the profile elements. With this type of system, the position of a supporting arm, once it has been mounted at a certain height, will actually be guaranteed. A disadvantage of this type of system is the hardly attractive appearance, as a consequence of which they have been considered suitable for a limited number of applications only.
An object of the present invention is to provide for an assembly which does not have the above disadvantages, in which the supporting arms can take up guaranteed positions and in which the assembly has been arranged in such a way, that it can be used any where.
Accordingly, it is provided for that holes spaced at equal distances or otherwise have been made in the vertical guide and that the means, by which a supporting arm can be secured in the vertical guide, includes a securing member provided with a projecting stub, intended to be stuck into one of the holes in the vertical guide, and with locking or clamping means by which the securing member can be locked or clamped in the vertical guide. According to a further elaboration it has further been provided for, that the vertical guide comprises a base part having the spaced-apart holes therein, said base part being provided with raised edge portions and said edge portions being provided with legs facing each other.
The solution according to the invention provides for a separate securing member which realizes guaranteed positions of the supporting arms with the help of the holes in the base part of the vertical guide. Given the fact that the holes are situated within the vertical guide, which holes can be blind round holes of a relatively limited diameter, one will obtain a system in which the appearance will not be hindered by the known slots or keyhole-shaped holes of other systems.
Further, additional measures have been provided for actually being able to hold or clamp a securing member in place in a hole once it has been fitted there. Firstly, to that end the securing member comprises a body being mounted transversely to a longitudinal axis of the securing member, in which the projecting stub forms an extremity of the longitudinal axis, and in which the width of the body is narrower than the distance between the legs facing each other and the length of the body is larger than the distance between the raised edge portions. Preferably, the length, and in particular the length in a diagonal direction of the body, is larger than the distance between the raised edge portions.
Thus, one achieves that from the outside, the securing member can be mounted at any desired height in a hole in the base part of the vertical guide by the stub, and by rotating the securing member a quarter turn, in which the body with the longitudinal direction is brought from a vertical position to a horizontal position. Then the body will contact the raised edge portions and will have been locked in the vertical guide.
Preferably, it will further be provided for that the body is provided with cams situated diagonally opposite each other. The cams are intended for contacting the sides facing the base part of the legs projecting towards each other, on rotation of a securing member being stuck into a hole with the stub. In this way, the securing member can actually be fixedly received in the vertical guide. Instead of cams which will contact the bottom of the legs facing each other, cams which will contact the insides of the raised edge portion may also be provided.
Further, it is important how the supporting arm contacts the securing member. It is possible, for example, to have supporting arm and securing member contacting each other according to a horizontal contact surface, however, this is not preferred. According to a first further measure it is provided for, that at the side of the cams, the body is at least partly divided in two planes sloping in opposite directions and meeting along a central body axis which extends along a length direction of the body. Then, according to a second further measure it is provided for that a supporting arm has one extremity provided with at least one guiding element, intended to be received into a vertical guide, which extends up to both sides of the supporting arm, in which said guiding element is provided with a bevel at the side pointed downwards. In this structure, the supporting arm will come to near on a slanting surface of the body of the securing member with the beveled plane, which, definitely in case of a loaded supporting arm will provide the securing member from being rotated and also provides for a further clamping of the securing member. In this way, an additional security is obtained with these further measures.
Further, the lowermost part of the guiding element is forced towards the legs of the vertical guide facing each other, as a consequence of which tilting of the supporting arm around this point is impossible and an appropriate position of the supporting arm in relation to the vertical guide is guaranteed.
According to a further elaboration, a profile, e.g. a corrugation structure, can additionally be provided on at least one of the contact surfaces between securing member and supporting arm. Due to this, movement of a supporting arm in relation to a securing member can be completely prevented.
According to a further elaboration, it is further provided for that the guiding element has a recess in the middle, as a consequence of which said guiding element can fall partly around the axis of a securing member. Due to this, the maximum possible contact surface between supporting arm and securing member will be realized.